Pralay Clears Final Trials, Giving India A Ballistic Missile Meant For War Not Deterrence

India’s defence research agency flight-tested its Pralay missile off the Odisha coast on Thursday, completing user evaluation trials and clearing the way for a weapon that fills an unusual gap in the country’s arsenal: a ballistic missile built for conventional war rather than nuclear deterrence

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The test was conducted from Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island at about 11.10am, with the Defence Research and Development Organisation saying all objectives were met on data from range instruments at Chandipur. The missile was developed by the Research Centre Imarat in Hyderabad with other DRDO laboratories and produced by the state-owned Bharat Dynamics. Officials from the agency, the armed forces and industry attended. “The induction of the system has become imminent,” the defence ministry said.

The distinction matters. India’s established ballistic missiles, the Agni and Prithvi families, are nuclear delivery systems held by the Strategic Forces Command and governed by a declared policy of no first use — which leaves them of little practical use in a conventional conflict. Pralay carries conventional warheads only. Built to army specifications with a range of 150 to 500 kilometres, it is meant for battlefield targets such as radar and communications installations, command posts and forward airfields.

It is also the intended centrepiece, alongside the BrahMos cruise missile, of a planned Rocket Force that would hold India’s conventional missiles while nuclear weapons remain under separate command. The concept was advanced by General Bipin Rawat, India’s first Chief of Defence Staff, who was killed in a helicopter crash in 2021. Its first regiment has been expected to stand up in 2026 or 2027.

Solid-fuelled and carried on a wheeled launcher, Pralay follows what the agency calls a quasi-ballistic path — a flattened, largely ballistic trajectory, with the ability to manoeuvre in flight, which makes it harder for missile defences to engage. Defence analysts have compared it to Russia’s Iskander and China’s Dong Feng-12, and the United States is fielding a broadly comparable system.

The programme was sanctioned in 2015 and first flown in December 2021, when two tests on consecutive days reached 400 and then 500 kilometres. Further trials followed in 2023 and in July 2025, and two missiles were fired in quick succession from one launcher last December. The Indian Air Force was cleared to order 120 missiles in December 2022, and an army regiment’s worth was approved the following September, part of a larger acquisition reported at around 75 billion rupees.

Rajnath Singh, the defence minister, said the missile would strengthen the military’s readiness against emerging threats. Congratulations also came from Rajesh Kumar Singh, who is India’s defence secretary and has additionally headed the DRDO since May, when the agency’s last scientist-chairman retired.